KET documentary “Ballot Bomb: Exploring the Young Voter Explosion” will attempt to explain and encourage the influx of young voters in national and statewide elections when it airs on KET at 9 p.m. on Monday, journalism professor and Citizen Kentucky Project director Buck Ryan announced in a press release.

The 30-minute update to Ryan’s 2001 KET documentary “Citizen Kentucky: Democracy and the Media” will question whether young voters will be able to affect the course of the Nov. 4 senate election, as they did in the 2012 presidential election.

Three Kentucky senate candidates’ messages to young voters are also included in interview segments, according to the press release.

Democratic candidate Alison Lundergan Grimes tells Ryan’s son, Centre College sophomore Austin Ryan in a 30-second promo that “if (she) can do it, (young voters) can do it too.”

The interviews attempt to answer the questions of who the candidates are, what positions they take politically, and what young people can learn from them, according to the press release.

Republican candidate Mitch McConnell discusses debt briefly in the promo.

Libertarian candidate David Patterson receives equal time in the program, according to the press release.

Ryan said in the press release that his goal was to present all subjects in the best possible light in contrast to conflicting news and political ads.

Buck Ryan and Austin Ryan co-hosted the program, which will air several times on the KET network, according to the press release, and will stream online on the KET website.

Staff Report